Liquor baron Vijay Mallya has been in the news for varied reasons. It is after UK court ordered his extradition mallya has also been accused of a defaulting on loans of over Rs 9,000 crore.
Recently a Mumbai court quoted him as a "Fugitive Economic Offender" (FEO). Vijay Mallya who a former flamboyant liquor baron became the first business tycoon to be declared as Fugitive Economic Offender under the FEO act, 2018.
Under the provisions of FEO Act, if a person has been involved in a fraud of an amount involving Rupees 100 crore or more then and has left the country and refuses to return then he can be declared as a Fugitive Economic Offender.
As per the act the Enforcement Directorate has mentioned that all the properties under the possession of Mallya should be confiscated and should be brought under the jurisdiction and control of the Union Government. Severe efforts were made by the ED inorder to bring Mallya back to the country from UK but the ED had failed to do so.
However, Mallya had challenged the Fugitive Economic Offender order in the High Court. However, sources have revealed that on his extradition hearing in London Mallya had surrendered before a Magistrate’s court and had obtained bail, hence, could not be called ‘fugitive’.
It is significant to note that Mallya’s lawyers had questioned the claim put forth by the ED that he had left India under ambiguous and suspicious circumstances however in defence it was said that Mallya had to attend a meeting of World Motor Sports with his capacity as the director of F1 team (force India).
Stay orders on the proceedings were sought by Senior Advocate Fali S Nariman, under Section 4 of the Act till further orders of the Appellate Tribunal under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act(PMLA) in the Appeals filed by SBI and 11 other banks are taken into consideration.Mallya was also bestowd upon the order to maintain status quo in lieu of certain properties. The prayer made by his lawyer was to stay the FEO proceedings till the time the proceedings which were carried under PMLA were soughted.
It was on 10th December 2018, a London court had ordered his extradition. Mallya has been accused of fraud and money laundering of an approximate amount of Rupees 9000 crore as is evident from the cases filed by Enforcement Directorate and Central Bureau of Investigation.
Courtesy/By: Debasmita Goswami
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07 Jan 2019
